Providing Market Feedback Associated with Electronic Commerce Transactions to Sellers

ABSTRACT

An electronic commerce system providing market feedback to sellers includes a server. The server records query information associated with a search query for a buyer of one or more databases containing product data and also records presentation information associated with presentation of multiple search results to the buyer, each search result including data for a product matching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, the search results including one or more search results reflecting product data for a particular seller. The server also records selection information associated with selection by the buyer of a particular search result from among the multiple search results and also provides at least some of the recorded query information, presentation information, or selection information to the particular seller to allow the particular seller to assess one or more aspects of its product data relative to product data of other sellers.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.11/877,825, filed on Oct. 24, 2007, entitled “Providing Market FeedbackAssociated with Electronic Commerce Transactions to Sellers,” which is acontinuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/892,300, filed onJun. 26, 2001, entitled “Providing Market Feedback Associated withElectronic Commerce Transactions to Sellers,” now U.S. Pat. No.7,330,829. U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/877,825 and U.S. Pat. No.7,330,829 are assigned to the assignee of the present application. Thesubject matter disclosed in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/877,825and U.S. Pat. No. 7,330,829 is hereby incorporated by reference into thepresent disclosure as if fully set forth herein.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This invention relates to electronic commerce and more particularly toproviding market feedback to sellers from electronic-commercetransactions.

BACKGROUND

Due to the ever-increasing popularity and accessibility of the Internetas a medium of communication, the number of business transactionsconducted using the Internet is also increasing, as are the numbers ofbuyers and sellers participating in electronic marketplaces providing aforum for these transactions. The majority of electronic commerce(“e-commerce”) transactions occur when a buyer determines a need for aproduct, identifies a seller that provides that product, and accessesthe seller's web site to arrange a purchase of the product. If the buyerdoes not have a preferred seller or if the buyer is purchasing theproduct for the first time, the buyer will often perform a search for anumber of sellers that offer the product and then access numerous sellerweb sites to determine which seller offers certain desired productfeatures at the best price and under the best terms for the buyer. Thematching phase of e-commerce transactions (matching the buyer with aparticular seller) is often inefficient because of the large amount ofsearching involved in finding a product and because once a particularproduct is found, the various offerings of that product by differentsellers may not be easily compared.

SUMMARY

According to the present invention, disadvantages and problemsassociated with previous e-commerce techniques have been substantiallyreduced or eliminated.

In one embodiment of the present invention, an electronic commercesystem providing market feedback to sellers includes a server operatingon one or more computers. The server records query informationassociated with a search query for a buyer of one or more databasescontaining product data. The server also records presentationinformation associated with presentation of multiple search results tothe buyer, each search result including data for a product matching oneor more search criteria specified in the search query, the searchresults including one or more search results reflecting product data fora particular seller. The server also records selection informationassociated with selection by the buyer of a particular search resultfrom among the multiple search results. The server provides at leastsome of the recorded query information, presentation information, orselection information to the particular seller to allow the particularseller to assess one or more aspects of its product data relative toproduct data of other sellers.

Particular embodiments of the present invention may provide one or moretechnical advantages. For example, certain embodiments of the presentinvention may provide a seller market feedback regarding the seller'sofferings, enabling the seller to more effectively modify the seller'sofferings to improve the marketing of the seller's products. Particularembodiments may provide a seller feedback regarding differences betweenofferings that were not selected by buyers and offerings that wereselected by buyers. Such embodiments may allow a seller to betteridentify aspects of its offerings (such as, for example, productattribute values, seller attribute values, product data quality, andseller data quality) that may be modified to improve the marketing ofcertain of the seller's products. Particular embodiments may alsoprovide a seller feedback regarding the placement of the seller'sofferings relative to other offerings in a set of search resultspresented to a buyer. Such embodiments may allow a seller to betteridentify possible changes to aspects of its offerings that may improvethe visibility of its offerings relative to other search resultspresented to a buyer. Particular embodiments may also provide a sellerfeedback regarding transactions for which the seller was not selected,which may give the seller a “picture” of the marketplace and allow theseller to more effectively focus on particular market segments.

Systems and methods incorporating one or more of these or othertechnical advantages may be well suited for modem e-commerceenvironments. Other technical advantages may be readily apparent tothose skilled in the art from the following figures, descriptions, andclaims.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

To provide a more complete understanding of the present invention andthe features and advantages thereof, reference is made to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, inwhich:

FIG. 1 illustrates an example e-commerce system;

FIG. 2 illustrates an example directory structure of an example globalcontent directory;

FIG. 3 illustrates an example table of a seller database;

FIG. 4 illustrates an example e-commerce system in further detail; and

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for providing a seller marketfeedback associated with an e-commerce transaction.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

FIG. 1 illustrates an example system 10 that includes a network 12coupling buyers 20, sellers 30, and a global content directory (GCD)server 40. System 10 enables e-commerce transactions between buyers 20and sellers 30 through the use of a GCD 42 supported by GCD server 40.Although GCD 42 is shown as being external to GCD server 40, GCD 42 maybe internal or external to GCD server 40. Network 12 may include anyappropriate combination of public and/or private networks couplingbuyers 20, sellers 30, and GCD server 40. In an example embodiment,network 12 includes the Internet and any appropriate local area networks(LANs), metropolitan area networks (MANs), or wide area networks (WANs)coupling buyers 20, sellers 30, and GCD server 40 to the Internet. Sincethe Internet is accessible to the vast majority of buyers and sellers inthe world, the present invention potentially includes all of thesebuyers and sellers as buyers 20 and sellers 30 associated with system10. However, the use of the term “global” should not be interpreted as ageographic limitation necessarily requiring that GCD 42 providedirectory services to buyers 20 and sellers 30 around the world (or inany other particular region) or that the content of GCD 42 be from allover the world (or from any other particular region).

Although buyers 20 and sellers 30 are described as separate entities, abuyer 20 in one transaction may be a seller 30 in another transaction,and vice versa. Moreover, reference to “buyer” or “seller” is meant toinclude a person, a computer system, an organization, or other entitywhere appropriate. For example, a buyer 20 may include a computerprogrammed to autonomously identify a need for a product, search forthat product, and buy that product upon identifying a suitable seller.Although buying and selling are primarily described herein, the presentinvention contemplates any appropriate e-commerce transaction. Moreover,reference to “products” is meant to include goods, real property,services, information, or any other suitable tangible or intangiblethings.

A typical e-commerce transaction may involve a “matching” phase and a“transactional” phase. During the matching phase, a buyer 20 may searchfor a suitable product (meaning any good, real property, service,information, or other tangible or intangible thing that may be thesubject of an e-commerce transaction) offered by one or more sellers 30,identify the most suitable seller 30 (which may involve, for example,identifying the seller 30 offering the lowest price), and contact thatseller 30 to enter the transactional phase. During the transactionalphase, the buyer 20 and seller 30 may negotiate a contract for the saleof the product (which may involve, for example, more clearly definingthe subject of the transaction, negotiating a price, and reaching anagreement on supply logistics) and generate a legal document embodyingthe terms of the negotiated contract. To identify the most suitableseller 30 during the matching phase without the use of GCD 42, a buyer20 may have to access numerous seller web sites to determine whichseller 30 offers certain desired features of the product at the bestprice. Sellers 30 may each provide one or more databases 32, such asrelational databases, that include data identifying the productsavailable from sellers 30 and their features. Each database 32 may beaccessed through the associated seller's web site or in any otherappropriate manner. The multiple one-to-one (one buyer 20 to one seller30) searches that this process requires are inefficient and expensivebecause of the large amount of searching involved in finding a productand because the various offerings of that product by different sellers30 may not be easily compared.

Alternatively, multiple sellers 30 may be grouped in an electronicmarketplace according to the products they provide and a buyer 20 maysearch the offerings of the multiple sellers 30 at a single web site.However, if buyer 20 wishes to obtain several different types ofproducts, buyer 20 may have to go to several different types ofmarketplaces. Furthermore, there may be numerous competing marketplacesthat buyer 20 has to search to perform the matching phase of atransaction for a particular product. One potential method of addressingthis problem is to create a global product database that potentiallyincludes data identifying the features of all the products that anybuyer may wish to obtain. Therefore, the global database would includethe combined contents of every database 32 associated with every seller30. However, such a global database would have many problems. Forexample, the sheer size of the database would make it difficult tosearch and cause the database to suffer from performance problems. Inaddition, it would be difficult to allow large numbers of buyers 20 tosearch the database at once. Furthermore, all sellers 30 would berequired to access the global database to update their information andthe entire database would have to be updated each time a change is made.Many other problems might also exist.

A solution to the above problems, at least in part, is GCD 42. GCD 42 isa universal directory of the contents of multiple seller databases 32(and potentially all seller databases 32). GCD 42 may be implementedusing one or more servers 40 or other computers located at one or morelocations. Most or all of the content in these seller databases 32remains stored in databases 32, but this content is accessible using GCD42. Therefore, like the global database described above, GCD 42 providesbuyers 20 with access to product data relating to a multitude ofproducts (and potentially seller data relating to one or more sellers 30of the products), but unlike the global database, GCD 42 does notattempt to store all of this data in one enormous database. Whereappropriate, reference to “data” is meant to include product data(meaning information reflecting values for certain attributes of aproduct), seller data (meaning information reflecting values for certainseller attributes), or both product data and seller data.

GCD 42 provides a directory of products using a directory structure inwhich products are organized using a hierarchical classification system.A buyer 20 may navigate or search the directory to find a particularproduct class into which products are categorized. The product data (andpotentially seller data) associated with a product included in a productclass may actually be stored in and obtained by GCD 42 from a sellerdatabase 32. However, the requested data may be transparently providedto buyer 20 such that all of the product data may appear to buyer 20 asbeing included in GCD 42. Although product and/or seller data hasprimarily been described as being stored in seller databases 32, thepresent invention contemplates product data being stored in any suitablemanner and being retrieved from any suitable sources. For example,system 10 may include a shared data repository 34 that contains productdata and/or seller data that may be combined with data from one or moreseller databases 32, as described in further detail below.

FIG. 2 illustrates an example directory structure 44 of an example GCD42. Products categorized in GCD 42 may be organized according toschemas. A schema may include a set of product classes (which may bereferred to as a “taxonomy”) organized in a hierarchy, each class beingassociated with a set of product features, characteristics, or otherproduct attributes (which may be referred to as a “product ontology”).For example, pens may have different kinds of tips (such as ball pointor felt tip), different tip sizes (such as fine, medium, or broad), anddifferent ink colors (such as blue, black, or red). Accordingly, aschema may include a class corresponding to pens that has a productontology including tip type, tip size, and color, or other appropriateattributes. Within a class, products may be defined by product attributevalues (such as, for example, ball point, medium tip, blue ink).Reference to “value” is meant to include any instance of a productattribute or a seller attribute. Product attribute values and sellerattribute values may be represented by numbers, letters, figures,characters, symbols, or other suitable information for describing aproduct or a seller, respectively. In one embodiment, a product ontologymay be divided into entry-required attributes (meaning attributes forwhich a value has to be provided) and entry-optional attributes (meaningattributes for which a value is optional), and these categories may befurther divided into commercial features and design features (or anyother suitable divisions).

In addition to a taxonomy and product ontologies, a schema may include aset of attributes for each seller (which may be referred to as a “sellerontology”). Such attributes may include geographic restrictions (such asserved markets), currencies accepted by each seller, collaboration toolsaccepted by each seller, contract terms accepted by each seller, typesof contracts accepted by each seller, levels of buyer credit required byeach seller, and any other suitable seller attributes. Similar toproducts within a product class, sellers offering products within aproduct class may be defined by seller attribute values corresponding toseller attributes. Accordingly, a schema may include a set of classes,each including one or more products, and each class may be associatedwith a set of product attributes and a set of seller attributes.

In example directory structure 44, products may be organized andcataloged according to industry standard schemas 46 or other appropriateschemas, as described below. Within industry standard schemas 46, thereare two example classes: a direct materials class 48 and an indirectmaterials class 50. Each of these classes 48 and 50 includes severalsub-classes (which may” themselves include sub-classes). Therefore, thenumerous classes of directory structure 44 form a “tree-like”hierarchical structure into which products may be categorized. Forexample purposes, certain portions of directory structure 44 are“expanded” in FIG. 2 to show various levels of classes. The “level” of aclass is indicated by the number of other classes between that class anda root class (such as industry standard schemas class 46). For example,indirect material class 50 is at the same level in directory structureas direct material class 48. Indirect material class 50 may include anoffice and computer supplies class 52, which includes a desk suppliesclass 54, which includes a writing utensils class 56. Furthermore,writing utensils class 56 includes a pens class 58, which includesnumerous pen type classes 60 a-60 n (“n” indicating that any number ofclasses 60 may be included in pens class 58). Each of classes 50, 52,54, 56, 58, and 60 is located at a different level of directorystructure 44. A class at any level in directory structure 44 may includeone or more sub-classes, those sub-classes may include one or moresubclasses, and so on, until a desired specificity of categorization isreached. A series of classes from a highest level class (the broadestclass) to a lowest level class (the most specific class) may be referredto as a “branch” of directory structure 44. For example, classes 46, 48,50, 52, 54, 56, 58, and 60 b form one branch of directory structure 44.

Although example directory structure 44 may use industry standardschemas 46 as described above, any other appropriate schemas 62 may beused in addition to or instead of industry standard schemas 46. Forexample, while industry standard schemas 46 may be organized from aseller's viewpoint, other schemas 62 may be used that organize productsfrom a buyer's viewpoint. For example, a buyer 20 may wish to furnish akitchen of a new house with various products, such as appliances, windowtreatments, paint, cabinetry, plumbing, dishes, and cooking utensils.Using one schema 62, these products may be organized into a variety ofunrelated classes based on certain features of the products (forexample, certain kitchen appliances may be categorized in an electronicsclass 52 of directory structure 44 while paint may be categorized intoan industrial class 52). However, another example schema 62 maycategorize all such products into a home products class (which mayinclude several classes further categorizing the products, such as akitchen products class which includes a kitchen appliances class, whichincludes a refrigerator class, and so on). Therefore, the same productmay be included in multiple schemas 62. These alternative schemas may beincluded in directory structure 44 and may be stored as a part of orseparate from GCD 42.

A buyer 20 may navigate through directory structure 44 by expanding orcollapsing various classes as desired. For example, FIG. 2 illustratesan expansion of certain classes of directory structure 44 to reach afelt-tip pen class 60 b. Once a buyer 20 has navigated to a class thatis specific enough for buyer 20 (and/or a class that is at the end of abranch), buyer 20 may perform a search for products within that class.For example, buyer 20 can search for all products in writing utensilsclass 56 that are blue felt-tip pins having medium tips. Alternatively,if buyer 20 navigates to the end of a branch of directory structure 44,such as felt-tip pen class 60 b, GCD 42 may then enable buyer 20 tosearch for such pens that have blue ink and medium tips (which may reachthe same result as the search above).

Buyer 20 may also search for sellers matching one or more sellerattribute values within a product class. For example, in addition tosearching for all products in writing utensils class 56 that are bluefelt-tip pins having medium tips, buyer 20 may search for sellers 30serving Texas that accept U.S. dollars. Buyer 20 may search for productsmatching certain product attribute values and sellers matching certainseller attribute values in any appropriate manner. In one embodiment,for example, buyer 20 provides search criteria including both values forproduct attributes and for seller attributes (search criteria mayinstead be generated automatically, in whole or in part, as describedbelow), and server 40 searches for products that match the productattribute criteria and are offered by sellers matching the sellerattribute criteria. In another embodiment, buyer 20 provides onlyproduct attribute values as search criteria, and server 40 limits itssearch for products matching the product attribute values to databases32 associated with sellers 30 known to match seller attribute valuesthat buyer 20 may want according to a buyer profile or otherwise.

As described above, in one embodiment, product data (at least productdata more detailed than data provided by a taxonomy) and seller data arenot stored in GCD 42, but are stored in databases 32. For example, aseller 30 may maintain a relational database 32 that includes aplurality of tables containing product attribute values for a variety ofproducts and seller attribute values for each product, a set ofproducts, or all of the products offered by seller 30. Product data andseller data may be integrated into one or more tables or may besegregated into different tables. Moreover, product data and seller datafor a seller 30 may be stored in the same or separate databases. One ormore pointers may be associated with each class to identify the locationof one or more databases 32 that include product data and/or seller datafor products contained in that class or to identify particular data indatabases 32. Therefore, GCD 42 may execute a search for products indatabases 32 identified by a pointer corresponding to a user-selected(or automatically selected) class. GCD 42 may also return the: networklocation (such as a uniform resource locator (URL) or other networkaddress) of the database 32 to buyer 20 so that buyer 20 mayindependently access database 32. Databases 32 may be searched using anyappropriate method including, but not limited to, a structured querylanguage (SQL) query.

GCD 42 may be implemented using the lightweight directory accessprotocol (LDAP), which enables directories to be provided using thetree-like structure described above. However, any other appropriatetechnique or protocol for creating GCD 42 may alternatively be used andGCD 42 may have any appropriate structure. Furthermore, GCD 42 may be anobject-oriented directory (which is also provided by LDAP) such thateach class in directory structure 44 includes the attributes of parentclasses in which the class is a sub-class. In this embodiment, a productclass listed at the end of a branch of the tree structure includes allof the attributes of its parent classes in the branch. Furthermore, eachproduct included in a database 32 may be an object that includes all theattributes of the classes in which the product is included. Thus, when asearch is performed from a class at the end of a branch of directorystructure 44, the search query may automatically include any appropriateattributes of parent classes of the class.

For example, if a buyer 20 has navigated through directory structure 44to felt-tip pens class 60 b, a search performed by buyer 20 (or by GCD42 on behalf of buyer 20) from felt-tip pens class 60 b mayautomatically be limited to a search for felt-tip pens and buyer 20 mayintroduce additional desired search criteria (such as blue ink andmedium tip). Therefore, if a database 32 searched includes product datarelating to a variety of writing utensils, a search of database 32 maybe automatically limited by GCD 42 to only include felt-tip pens withinthat database 32. Buyer 20 may also identify additional productattribute values and/or seller attribute values as additional searchcriteria.

When GCD 42 has performed a search of the databases 32 identified by apointer or pointers associated with a class that buyer 20 has selected(or that has been automatically selected), GCD 42 may return productdata and/or seller data associated with one or more products matchingthe search criteria. GCD 42 may integrate the product data and/or sellerdata resulting from the search into directory structure 44 so that thedata appears to buyer 20 as being part of GCD 42. GCD 42 mayalternatively present the results of the search in any other appropriatemanner. Each product resulting from the search may be an object which isunique instance of the class in which buyer 20 is searching.Furthermore, each such object (and its location) may be uniquelyidentified using a numbering scheme corresponding to directory structure44.

In summary, a buyer 20 may search for a product matching certain productattribute values available from a seller matching certain sellerattribute values using GCD 42 and thus eliminate or reduce the need forbuyer 20 to individually search numerous seller databases 32 to find thedesired product available from a suitable seller. GCD 42 provides accessto product and/or seller data relating to these numerous products usingdirectory structure 44, which organizes products using a hierarchical,object-oriented classification system. Buyer 20 may navigate or searchdirectory structure 44 to find a particular classification of productsand various information associated with the products within thisclassification, initiate a search of databases 32 including productand/or seller data relating to a product, and then communicate with anappropriate database 32 through GCD server 40 or otherwise. Such accessto vast numbers of products is provided without the requirement that alldata about the products and/or sellers be stored in a global database.Instead, this data may be stored in seller databases 32 that can bereadily accessed using GCD 42.

One problem that may be associated with the use of the various sellerdatabases 32 is that these databases 32 may include product data aboutthe same class of product (for example, felt-tip pens), but may identifyproducts of that class using different attribute values, may usedifferent names for the same product attribute value, and/or mayquantify or distinguish product attribute values differently (usingdifferent units of measurement, for example). The same may be true forseller data that may be contained in databases 32. Some of these issuesmay be solved using translation mechanisms that convert the data into auniform format used by GCD 42. Alternatively, sellers 30 may create newdatabases 32 or manually modify existing databases 32 (or may hire athird party to create or modify databases 32) to conform to a uniformstandard in anticipation of a database 32 being used in association withGCD 42.

One disadvantage to seller 30 (or a third party) creating data that isappropriate for use with GCD 42 is that the generation of such data istypically expensive and time-consuming. If seller 30 has already createdproduct data (for example, for access by buyers 20 using the seller'sweb site), seller 30 may be reluctant to repeat the process and expenseof recreating, expanding, reformatting, translating, or otherwisemodifying existing product data into a format appropriate for use withGCD 42. However, if seller 30 does not properly format its product dataand instead uses a preexisting data format in conjunction with GCD 42,the seller's product data may not be properly associated with GCD 42 andseller 30 may be disadvantaged during the matching phase of atransaction. For example, if the product ontology associated with pensclass 58 in directory structure 44 includes ink color as a productattribute and seller 30 does not have this information in its productdata or does not refer to this information as “ink color” in itsdatabase 32, then a search conducted using GCD 42 for pens having aparticular ink color may not properly identify products in database 32that meet the search criteria. Alternatively, the seller's products maybe identified in the search results, but may be ranked lower in thesearch results since seller 30 does not provide information about theink color or does provide the information but does not format theinformation appropriately for use with GCD 42.

One solution to the above problem is to provide a shared product datarepository 34 that includes product data relating to numerous commonproducts and which is properly formatted and complete for use with GCD42. The product data in repository 34 may be made available, for a feeor otherwise, to sellers 30 who do not 30 wish to create (or pay a thirdparty to create) product data for use with GCD 42 or recreate, expand,reformat, translate, or otherwise modify existing product data for usewith GCD 42. As an example only, although hundreds of sellers 30participating in system 10 may sell pens, there may be only a fewmanufacturers that make the pens sold by sellers 30. Therefore, it maybe more efficient and cost effective for the manufacturers to createmuch of the product data for the pens that they produce and provide thisdata in repository 34 instead of each seller 30 creating redundantproduct 5 data for the pens. Alternatively, the product data inrepository 34 may be created by an entity associated with GCD 42 or anyother appropriate entity.

Product data relating to a particular product that is notseller-specific and/or that changes relatively infrequently (compared to“dynamic” product data, described below) may be created by themanufacturer or another entity and stored in repository 34 for use bysellers 30. This data may be referred to as “static” product data.Examples of static product data relating to a pen may include datarelating to ink color, tip type, and tip size of the pen. Other productdata relating to a product that is seller-specific and/or that changesrelatively frequently (compared to “static” product data) may be createdby sellers 30 and stored in seller databases 32. This data may bereferred to as “dynamic” product data. Examples of dynamic product datarelating to a pen may include data relating to the price, availability,and lead time associated with the pen. Optimally, the combination of thestatic and dynamic data relating to a particular product will includevalues for each of the product attributes included in the productontology of the classes of GCD 42 in which the product is classified.For example, pens class 58 in GCD 42 may have an associated productontology that includes ink color, tip type, tip size, price,availability, and lead time attributes. Preferably the combination ofstatic product data in repository 34 and dynamic product data in aseller database 32 relating to the pen includes values for each of theseproduct attributes.

When a seller 30 wishes to sell a product using GCD 42, the seller 30may first determine whether repository 34 includes static product datafor the product. Seller 30 may obtain information regarding what productdata is included in repository 34 by querying GCD server 40, by queryingan entity associated with the repository 34, by directly accessingrepository 34, or using any other appropriate 30 technique. If staticdata for the particular product or products is included in repository34, then seller 30 may request that the static product data beassociated with seller 30 and one or more of its products. As describedabove, one or more pointers may be associated with each class toidentify the location of one or more seller databases 32 that includeproduct data for products contained in that class or to identifyparticular data in databases 32. In addition, pointers associated with aclass may identify the location of a repository 34 and may identifyparticular data in repository 34. Furthermore, one or more pointers torepository 34 may be linked to one or more pointers to a seller database32 such that the information from the seller database 32 and repository34 may be merged. Alternatively, the static product data in repository34 may be linked with one or more sets of dynamic product data in one ormore seller databases 32. Dynamic product data from seller database 32may be merged with static product data from repository 34 and thecombined data may be provided to a buyer 20 as a result of a productsearch, as is described in further detail below with reference to FIG.5.

Although repository 34 is illustrated as a single storage location,repository 34 may include multiple storage locations at the same ordifferent physical locations. Any appropriate number of storagelocations located in a number of physical locations may be used (forexample, the storage locations may be distributed in various geographicregions). GCD server 40 may search each of these distributedrepositories 34 as appropriate to obtain static product data that isresponsive to a buyer's search. Alternatively, pointers associated witha class may direct GCD server 40 to one or more particular storagelocations. In addition, if multiple repositories 34 are used, eachrepository 34 may include identical product data, some common and somedifferent product data, or entirely different product data. Furthermore,repository or repositories 34 may store the product data in anyappropriate format using any appropriate storage medium. Moreover, itshould be noted that although shared product data repository isdescribed as including static product data, seller databases 32 may alsoinclude static product data. This static product data mayor not be madeavailable to buyers 20 using GCD 42.

FIG. 3 illustrates an example table 150 that may be included in a sellerdatabase 32 and/or repository 34. Database 32 and repository 34 mayinclude one or more tables 150, and each table 150 may contain datarelating to one or more products. For example, example table 150includes data relating to different types of pens. Table 150 may alsoinclude data for other types of products (for example, other types ofoffice supplies), or such data may be contained in other tables 150 indatabase 32 and/or repository 34. Table 150 includes a plurality ofcolumns 152 that each include data relating to a particular productattribute or seller attribute. Although an example number of columns 152including example product attribute values and seller attribute valuesare illustrated, it should be understood that any appropriate number andtype of product attributes, seller attributes, or other categories ofdata may be included in table 150. Moreover, as described briefly above,seller data and product data may be segregated into different tablesinstead of being integrated into the same table as shown in exampletable 150.

Table 150 also includes a number of rows 154 that may each correspond toa particular product and that each include values for one or more of theproduct attributes and seller attributes. Each of the values (which maybe numeric, textual, or in any other appropriate format) is located atthe intersection of the row 154 associated with a particular product andthe column 152 that includes a particular product attribute or sellerattribute. Each of these intersections may be referred to as a field orcell 156 of table 150. Where seller data and product data areintegrated, each row 154 may contain all of the product data and sellerdata for the product corresponding to that row 154. Alternatively, theremay be a row or set of rows dedicated to seller data that may apply toall products offered by a seller 30 or a subset of all such products.Where seller data and product data are segregated, each row in theseller data table may correspond to a set of seller attribute valuesthat may be linked to a set of one or more products in the product datatable such that seller data for a product may be accessed when productdata for that product is accessed, and vice versa.

The data in one or more columns 152 of table 150 may be indexed toincrease the speed with which database reads may be conducted. Forexample, the fields 156 of ink color column 152 d and tip size column152 e may be indexed so that a database query for a pen having aparticular ink color and tip size may be quickly performed. Data intable 150 may be indexed using any appropriate database indexingtechnique. The typical result of such indexing is that when GCD 42 or abuyer 20 requests indexed data from a database 32 and/or repository 34,the associated database management system (or other appropriateinterface to database 32 and/or repository 34) does not have to searchthrough every field 156 in the tables 150 included in database 32 and/orrepository 34 to locate the requested data. Instead, the data may beindexed such that when a query is submitted for products having certainproduct attribute values and/or sellers 30 having certain sellerattribute values that have been indexed, the database management systemalready knows the locations of such products in table 150 and may returndata associated with these products without searching the entire table150 or database 32 and/or repository 34 for the products. For example,if the ink color fields 156 and tip size fields 156 of columns 152 d and152 e, respectively, are indexed, the index will typically identify thelocation of all products having black ink and a medium tip size.

If a query is submitted that also specifies a value of one or morenon-indexed product attributes (for example, a query for pensmanufactured by ABC Company, if the manufacturer fields 156 in column152 c are not indexed) and/or seller attributes, then the associateddatabase management system may perform a search of database 32 and/orrepository 34 for products that include the specified value of the oneor more non-indexed attributes or seller attributes. However, such asearch may be limited to the products already identified (using theindex) as including specified values of indexed attributes (for example,pens having black ink and a medium tip) and/or seller attributes thatare also included in the search. Therefore, the amount of time requiredto perform the search may be reduced even though one or more of theproduct attribute values or seller attribute values that are searchedfor are not indexed.

FIG. 4 illustrates an example e-commerce system 10 in further detail. Asdescribed above, numerous buyers 20 and sellers 30 may be coupled to GCDserver 40 using network 12. Buyers 20 may access server 40 using a webbrowser or in any other appropriate manner and server 40 may providebuyers 20 with access to GCD 42 using a web server or in any otherappropriate manner. Although GCD 42 is shown as being internal to GCDserver 40, GCD 42 may be internal or external to GCD server 40, asdescribed above. GCD server 40 may also include hardware and/or softwarefor implementing one or more GCD interfaces 43. A buyer 20 may accessserver 40 and use a GCD interface 43 to search or navigate GCD 42 and/orseller databases 32. Information may be communicated among buyers 20,sellers 30, and GCD 42 using hypertext transport protocol (HTTP),extensible markup language (XML), simple object access protocol (SOAP),or any other suitable communication technique. Each buyer 20 and seller30 may be issued a unique identifier so that the participants in atransaction facilitated by GCD 42 may be identified. Each buyer 20 andseller 30 may also be assigned a role with respect to a transaction. Asdescribed above, a buyer 20 in one transaction may be a seller 30 inanother transaction, and vice versa.

In an example transaction, a buyer 20 may access a GCD interface 43 andperform a search of GCD 42. GCD interface 43 may allow buyer 20 to bothnavigate or “browse” the classes of GCD 42 and to search for aparticular class or classes. For example, buyer 20 may either navigateGCD 42 to find a class into which pens are categorized or buyer 20 maysearch GCD 42 for class names including the word “pen.” Any othersuitable methods for identifying a particular class may also be used.When buyer 20 has located the appropriate class for the product buyer 20desires, buyer 20 may then request a listing of products in that classmatching certain product attribute values. For example, if buyer 20 isbrowsing felt-tip pens class 60 b, buyer 20 may request all products inclass 60 b (felt-tip pens) that have red ink and a fine tip and that aresold by a seller 30 located in the United States.

A search interface 45, or any other appropriate component of GCD server40, may facilitate such a request by searching or requesting searches ofrepository 34 and/or seller databases 32 identified by one or morepointers associated with felt-tip pens class 60 b, as described above.Search interface 45 may provide buyer 20 a search form in which to enterone or more search criteria. The types of search criteria that may beused may be identified in the search form, or buyer may be allowed toperform a general search of databases 32 and/or repository 34 forcertain terms. For example, search interface 45 may provide buyer 20with a search form tailored for class 60 b that includes fields wherebuyer 20 can specify a desired ink color, tip thickness, or any otherappropriate product-related or seller-related criteria. In oneembodiment, the fields of the search form correspond to some or all ofthe product attributes within the product ontology and/or sellerattributes within the seller ontology corresponding to the product classthat has been selected, and buyer 20 may enter values for the productattributes and seller attributes in the corresponding search formfields. In lieu of a search form, search interface 45 may insteadprovide a single field where buyer can enter in desired search terms,such as “red” and “fine” (multiple search terms may be entered usingBoolean operators or any other appropriate technique).

Search interface 45, or any other appropriate component of GCD server40, may also facilitate search requests by accessing a buyer profile forbuyer 20 containing information compiled from previous search requestsmade by buyer 20, previous e-commerce transactions involving buyer 20,or other events or actions on the part of buyer 20. For example, a buyerprofile may contain a list of sellers 30 matching seller attributevalues that buyer 20 may want. Such a list may be compiled from theresults of previous searches by buyer 20. Search interface 45 may accessthe profile for buyer 20 for any suitable purpose. In one embodiment,search interface 45 may access the profile for buyer 20 to automaticallygenerate search criteria, such as product attribute values and/or sellerattribute values, for a search. Search interface 45 may also access theprofile for buyer 20 to limit its search for products matching productattribute values provided by buyer 20 (or generated automatically) todatabases 32 associated with sellers 30 known to match seller attributevalues that buyer 20 may want (and/or data in repository 34 associatedwith such sellers 30).

Based on search criteria provided by buyer 20 or generatedautomatically, search interface 45 may communicate a query to theappropriate seller database(s) 32 and/or repository 34 requesting thatdatabases 32 and/or repository 34 each return a listing of all products(including associated product data and/or seller data) that meet thesearch criteria. Databases 32 and/or repository 34 may also return datarelating to attribute values that were not included in the searchcriteria. For example, databases 32 may return a price and availabilityfor products that meet the search criteria even if price andavailability were not search criteria. Responses to the queries ofdatabases 32 and/or repository 34 (which may be referred to as “searchresults”) may be displayed to buyer 20 in any appropriate manner. In oneembodiment, search results are communicated directly to buyer 20 fromdatabases 32 and/or repository 34. In another embodiment, GCD 42 listssearch results in order of relevance to the search criteria according tosuitable matching criteria and presents the results to buyer 20. GCD 42may also sort the search results according to one or more “default” sortcriteria, a sort request made by buyer 20, or one or more buyerpreferences recorded in a buyer profile associated with buyer 20. Forexample, buyer 20 may request that the matching products be listed inorder from least expensive to most expensive.

GCD 42 may also sort search results according to content type. Forexample, GCD 42 may sort search results such that products for whichdata was received from repository 34 may be presented to buyer 20 first,products for which data was received from seller databases 32 containingcertified content (meaning content known to match the schema andontologies of GCD 42) may be presented second, and products for whichdata was received from seller databases 32 for which there is no contentcertification may be presented third. Content may be certified, forexample, by the entity that operates GCD server 40 or a third partyfamiliar with the schema and ontologies of GCD 42. Within each of thesedata groups, products may be listed in any suitable order, such as inorder of price or any other suitable attribute. For example, searchresults may be displayed such that products for which data was receivedfrom repository 34 may be presented first in order of price, productsfor which data was received from seller databases 32 containingcertified content may be presented second in order of price, andproducts for which data was received from seller databases 32 for whichthere is no content certification may presented third in order of price.Although particular examples of displaying search results have beendescribed, search results may be displayed in any suitable order and maybe sorted according to any suitable criteria.

Buyer 20 may select a product from the product listing to indicate adesire to initiate a transaction involving the product, such as apurchase of the product. On such a selection, GCD 42 may communicate arepository identifier (RID) identifying the selected seller 30 and aglobally unique identifier (GUID) for the product to buyer 20. Forexample, an RID may be the network address (such as an IP address) of aseller network node 30 or may be associated with the network address ina table (in which case GCD 42 may use the RID to look up the associatednetwork address and then communicate the network address to buyer 20).Buyer may access the seller 30 using the RID (or network address) andrequest a transaction regarding the product using the GUID. GCD 42 mayeven provide a link including a URL of a web site associated with theseller 30 or may provide another appropriate method for buyer 20 to beconnected to seller 20. Although only a single example arrow (betweenbuyer 20 n and seller 30 n) is shown to illustrate communication betweenbuyers 20 and sellers 30, it should be understood that any buyer 20 maycommunicate with any seller 30 to conduct appropriate transactions.

Search queries, sort requests, the presentation of search results tobuyers 20, and the selection of search results by buyers 20 may provideinformation useful to sellers 30 in gauging the market impact of theirofferings, their product data and seller data, and other aspects oftheir business. Accordingly, GCD server 40 may record informationregarding search queries, sort requests, the presentation of searchresults to buyers 20, and the selection of search results by buyers 20and communicate that information, for a fee or otherwise, to sellers 30.Although an example environment including GCD server 40 is particularlydescribed herein, the present invention is not limited to such anenvironment, but contemplates any environment wherein a buyer may accessdata for one or more products available from one or more sellers throughqueries and the like. In one embodiment, when data for one or moreproducts of a seller 30 is communicated from seller databases 32 and/orrepository 34 in response to a search query from search interface 45,GCD server 40 may record information regarding the search query, thepresentation of the search results to buyer 20, and/or the selection ofa search result by buyer 20 and provide the information to seller 30.Any suitable information associated with the search query, thepresentation of the search results to buyer 20, and/or the selection ofa search result by buyer 20 may be recorded by GCD server 40 andprovided to seller 30. For example, GCD server 40 may record andcommunicate, make available to, or otherwise provide to seller 30 one ormore search criteria specified in the search query. Such criteria mayinclude one or more product attribute values and/or seller attributevalues and, as described above, may be provided by buyer 20 or generatedautomatically according to a buyer profile for buyer 20.

GCD server 40 may also record and provide to seller 30 informationregarding the order of display of the search results presented to buyer20. Reference to “providing” information to seller 30 is meant toencompass communicating the information to seller 30, storing theinformation for later access by seller 30, or otherwise making theinformation available to seller 30, as appropriate. Such information mayinclude the actual order of display of the search results. Suchinformation may also include the sort criteria used to sort the resultsfor presentation in a desired order of display. As described above, sortcriteria may include product attributes, product attribute values,seller attributes, seller attribute values, or any other criteria forsorting search results. These sort criteria may be default sort criteriaused for certain types of searches, sort criteria specified by buyer 20in a sort request, sort criteria generated automatically based on abuyer profile, or any other criteria used to place the search results ina certain order for presentation to buyer 20. Although particularexamples of displaying search results have been described herein, thepresent invention contemplates search results being sorted according toany suitable criteria and being displayed in any suitable order.

GCD server 40 may also record and provide to seller 30 informationregarding the placement of the products of seller 30 in the searchresults presented to buyer 20. For example, GCD server 40 may record theposition of the products of seller 30 in a list of search results sortedaccording to one or more sort criteria, as described above, andpresented to buyer 20. Similarly, GCD server 40 may record informationregarding the reasons for the particular placement of the products ofseller 30 in the search results presented to buyer 20. Such informationmay include a comparison of the products of seller 30 with the sortcriteria applied to the search results or the order of display,information regarding the products placed ahead of the products ofseller 30 in the search results, or any other information that may tendto explain the placement of the products of seller 30 in the searchresults relative to other products. Providing a seller 30 this kind ofinformation may allow seller 30 to better identify aspects of itsofferings (including product and seller attribute values and the qualityof seller and product data describing its offerings) that may improvethe visibility of their offerings relative to other search resultspresented to a buyer 20.

Furthermore, GCD server 40 may record and provide to seller 30information regarding the search results considered by buyer 20.Reference to consideration of one or more search results by buyer 20encompasses an opportunity for consideration provided to buyer 20 and isnot limited to actual consideration. Such information may include thenumber of results considered by buyer 20. In one embodiment, GCD server40 may determine this number based on how far down the list of searchresults (if the search results were presented in a list) buyer 20scrolled before selecting a suitable product from the list. This numbermay also be determined based on the number of search result “sets”presented to buyer 20. For example, buyer 20 may be presented aspecified number of the search results at a time. In this case, GCDserver 40 may record the number of sets buyer 20 viewed before making aselection. GCD server 40 may also record and provide to seller 30whether buyer 20 viewed data for the products of seller 30, which may bedetermined based on whether the products of seller 30 were placed aheadof the product selected by buyer 20 in the search results or whether theproducts of seller 30 were in one of the search result sets presented tobuyer 20. Additionally, GCD server 40 may record and provide to seller30 information regarding products that buyer 20 considered, but did notselect. Such information may include information (such as product andseller attribute values) regarding products placed ahead of the selectedproduct in the search results which may have been considered by buyer20.

Moreover, GCD server 40 may record and provide to seller 30 informationregarding the product selected by buyer 20 from the search results. Suchinformation may include the placement of the selected product in thesearch results and the reasons for the placement of the selected productin the search results. In certain embodiments, some informationregarding the product selected by buyer 20 may be confidential in thatit may not be disclosed to other sellers 30. For example, the prices ofproducts offered by a seller 30 may be kept in confidence from othersellers 30. In this case, the price of the selected product may bewithheld from seller 30, but seller 30 may be informed that the price ofthe selected product was lower than the prices of the products of seller30 in the search results. GCD server 40 may also record and provide toseller 30 information regarding the reasons why the products of seller30 were not placed where the selected product was placed in the searchresults presented to buyer 20. Such information may include a comparisonof the selected product with the products of seller 30 pointing out thedifferences between them. Any other suitable information regarding theproduct selected by buyer 20 from the search results may also berecorded and provided to seller 30 by GCD server 40.

Providing seller 30 information regarding the product selected by buyer20 in this way may allow seller 30 to better identify aspects of itsofferings (such as, for example, product attribute values, sellerattribute values, product data quality, and seller data quality) thatmay be modified to improve the marketing of certain of the products ofseller 30. As an example, such information may indicate to seller 30that the marketability of the products of seller 30 may be improved byproviding buyers 20 product data or seller data that is not currentlyavailable from seller 30 or by using product data from repository 34 orhaving its product and seller data certified to increase the visibilityof its products in product searches (where search results are groupedaccording to the certification level of the associated data). Othersuitable information (such as, for example, information regarding theorder of display of the search results presented to buyer 20 andinformation regarding the placement of the products of seller 30 in thesearch results presented to buyer 20) may also indicate the same toseller 30. In addition to information regarding the selected product,GCD server 40 may record and provide to seller 30 information regardingthe transaction into which buyer 20 entered after selecting a searchresult. Such information may include the amount of money that changedhands, the size of the order (in terms of, for example, the number ofproducts involved), the size of the buyer, the size of the seller, andother suitable information regarding the transaction. By providingseller 30 this information, GCD server 40 may give seller 30 a “picture”of the marketplace and allow seller 30 to more effectively focus onparticular market segments.

GCD server 40 may communicate feedback for a seller 30 as the feedbackis generated, periodically in batch mode, or both. For example, feedbackmay be communicated to seller 30 every time product data for one or moreproducts of seller is presented to a buyer 20 and buyer 20 selectsanother product and/or enters into a transaction with another seller 30.Feedback may, instead or in addition, be stored as it is generated andcompiled for subsequent access by seller 30 so that seller 30 may gaugethe market impact of its offerings, its product data and seller data,and other aspects of its business over a period of time or a number ofe-commerce transactions.

FIG. 5 illustrates an example method for providing a seller 30 marketfeedback associated with an e-commerce transaction. The method begins atstep 100, where a search query is communicated from search interface 45to selected seller databases 32 and/or repository 34. At step 102, GCDserver 40 records the search criteria specified in the query. Asdescribed above, such criteria may include product and seller attributevalues and other suitable criteria for identifying a subset of productscatalogued using GCD 42. At step 104, seller databases 32 and/orrepository 34 communicate search results to GCD server 40 in response tothe search query communicated at step 100. GCD server 40 sorts thesearch results at step 106 and presents the sorted search results tobuyer 20 at step 108. As described above, sort criteria may includeproduct attributes, product attribute values, seller attributes, sellerattribute values, data quality, or any other criteria for sorting searchresults. These sort criteria may be default sort criteria used forcertain types of searches, sort criteria specified by buyer 20 in a sortrequest, sort criteria generated automatically based on a buyer profile,or any other criteria used to place the search results in a certainorder for presentation to buyer 20. At step 110, GCD server 40 recordsthe sort criteria used to place search results in the desired order ofdisplay. GCD server 40 also records, at step 112, the placement of oneor more products of seller 30 in the search results presented to buyer20.

At step 114, buyer 20 selects a search result. GCD server 40, at steps116-120, may record the number of search results reviewed by buyer 20,the placement of the search result selected by buyer 20, and/or theproduct and seller attribute values of the selected search result. Asdescribed above, certain information regarding the selected searchresult may be withheld from seller 30. Accordingly, GCD server 40 mayrecord information regarding the selected search result withoutdisclosing information to be kept in confidence from other sellers 30.For example, GCD server 40 may record that the selected search resultwas priced lower than the products of seller 30 that were included inthe search results, instead of recording the actual price of theselected search result. At step 122, buyer 20 enters the transactionalphase of the e-commerce transaction, which is concluded at step 124.During the transactional phase, as described above, buyer 20 and theselected seller 30 may negotiate a contract for the sale of the product(which may involve, for example, more clearly defining the subject ofthe transaction, negotiating a price, and reaching an agreement onsupply logistics) and generate a legal document embodying the terms ofthe negotiated contract. From the transactional phase (which may simplyinvolve, for example, a mouse “click” indicating consummation of thetransaction), GCD server 40 may record, at step 126, the dollar value ofthe transaction between buyer and selected seller and number of productsinvolved. At step 128, GCD server 40 stores the recorded information forlater communication to or access by seller 30, and the method ends.

Although the example method illustrated in FIG. 5 describes certainkinds of information regarding an e-commerce transaction being recordedand stored for seller 30, any suitable information regarding ane-commerce transaction may be recorded for use by seller 30 inidentifying modifications to the offerings of seller 30 that may improvethe marketing of the products of seller 30. Additionally, GCD server 40may record less than all of the information described above in referenceto FIG. 5. For example, GCD server 40 may record only information fromthe matching phase of the e-commerce transaction, such as informationfrom the search query, the sorting and display of the search results,and the selection of a search result by buyer 20. Information from thetransactional phase of the e-commerce transaction may not be recorded.Moreover, any suitable component or combination of components internallyor externally associated with GCD server 40 may record and storeinformation as described above. Furthermore, although an exampleenvironment including GCD server 40 has been particularly describedherein, the present invention is not limited to such an environment, butcontemplates any environment wherein a buyer may access data for one ormore products available from one or more sellers through queries and thelike.

Although the present invention has been described with severalembodiments, numerous changes, substitutions, variations, alterations,and modifications may be suggested to one skilled in the art, and it isintended that the invention may encompass all such changes,substitutions, variations, alterations, and modifications falling withinthe spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A non-transitory computer-readable mediumembodied with software, the software when executed using one or morecomputers is configured to: record query information based on a searchquery of one or more seller databases coupled with one or more sellercomputer systems and comprising product data, the search query performedby buyer computer systems; record presentation information based on themanner in which two or more search results are presented to the buyercomputer systems, each search result comprising data for a productmatching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, thesearch results comprising one or more search results reflecting productdata for a particular seller computer system, the presentationinformation reflects a position of a search result for the particularseller computer system within an ordered display of the search results;record selection information based on selection by the buyer computersystems of a particular search result from among the two or more searchresults, the particular search result comprising data for a particularproduct matching one or more search criteria specified in the searchquery, the selection information reflects a position of the selectedsearch result within the ordered display of the search results andwherein the particular product is a product of a seller computer systemother than the particular seller computer system; and provide therecorded query information and at least one of the presentationinformation and the selection information to the particular sellercomputer system, such that the particular seller computer system hasaccess to one or more aspects of its product data relative to productdata of other seller computer systems.
 2. The computer-readable mediumof claim 1, further comprising a shared product data repositorycomprising product data for two or more products available from two ormore seller computer systems.
 3. The computer-readable medium of claim1, wherein the software is further configured to provide information tothe particular seller computer system by communicating the informationto the particular seller computer system substantially immediatelyfollowing the selection of the particular search result by the buyercomputer systems.
 4. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, whereinthe software is further configured to record contract informationreflecting one or more terms of a contract between the buyer computersystems and a second seller computer system following the selection ofthe particular search result by the buyer computer systems, theparticular search result reflecting product data of the second sellercomputer system.
 5. The computer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein thequery information reflects one or more product attribute values and oneor more seller attribute values specified in the search query.
 6. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the presentationinformation reflects one or more buyer-specified sort criteria used tosort the search results, each sort criterion selected from the groupconsisting of a product attribute, a product attribute value, a sellerattribute, and a seller attribute value.
 7. The computer-readable mediumof claim 1, wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:the number of search results considered by the buyer computer systems;and whether the buyer computer systems considered one or more searchresults for the particular seller computer system.
 8. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 7, wherein the selection informationreflects at least one of: one or more product attribute values or sellerattribute values for one or more search results for the particularseller computer system considered but not selected by the buyer computersystems; and one or more product attribute values or seller attributevalues for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems. 9.The computer-readable medium of claim 8, wherein the selectioninformation excludes product attribute values and seller attributevalues for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems thatare to be kept in confidence from seller computer systems other than theseller computer system based on the selected search result.
 10. Thecomputer-readable medium of claim 1, wherein the selection informationreflects at least one of: a position of the selected search resultwithin the two or more search results presented to the buyer computersystems; and one or more reasons for the position, relative to thesearch result selected by the buyer computer systems, of a search resultfor the particular seller computer system.
 11. A computer-implementedmethod, comprising: recording query information based on a search queryof one or more seller databases coupled with seller computer systemscomprising product data, the search query performed by buyer computersystems; recording presentation information based on the manner in whichtwo or more search results are presented to the buyer computer systems,each search result comprising data for a product matching one or moresearch criteria specified in the search query, the search resultscomprising one or more search results reflecting product data for aparticular seller computer system, the presentation information reflectsa position of a search result for the particular seller computer systemwithin an ordered display of the search results; recording selectioninformation based on selection by the buyer computer systems of aparticular search result from among the two or more search results, theparticular search result comprising data for a particular productmatching one or more search criteria specified in the search query, theselection information reflects a position of the selected search resultwithin the ordered display of the search results and wherein theparticular product is a product of a seller computer system other thanthe particular seller computer system; and providing the recorded queryinformation and at least one of the presentation information and theselection information to the particular seller computer system, suchthat the particular seller computer system has assess to one or moreaspects of its product data relative to product data of other sellercomputer systems.
 12. The computer-implemented method of claim 11,further comprising a shared product data repository comprising productdata for two or more products available from two or more seller computersystems.
 13. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, whereinproviding information to the particular seller computer system comprisescommunicating the information to the particular seller computer systemsubstantially immediately following the selection of the particularsearch result by the buyer computer systems.
 14. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, further comprising recordingcontract information reflecting one or more terms of a contract betweenthe buyer computer systems and a second seller computer system followingthe selection of the particular search result by the buyer computersystems, the particular search result reflecting product data of thesecond seller computer system.
 15. The computer-implemented method ofclaim 11, wherein the query information reflects one or more productattribute values and one or more seller attribute values specified inthe search query.
 16. The computer-implemented method of claim 11,wherein the presentation information reflects one or morebuyer-specified sort criteria used to sort the search results, each sortcriterion selected from the group consisting of a product attribute, aproduct attribute value, a seller attribute, and a seller attributevalue.
 17. The computer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein theselection information reflects at least one of: the number of searchresults considered by the buyer computer systems; and whether the buyercomputer systems considered one or more search results for theparticular seller computer system.
 18. The computer-implemented methodof claim 17, wherein the selection information reflects at least one of:one or more product attribute values or seller attribute values for oneor more search results for the particular seller computer systemconsidered but not selected by the buyer computer systems; and one ormore product attribute values or seller attribute values for the searchresult selected by the buyer computer systems.
 19. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 18, wherein the selectioninformation excludes product attribute values and seller attributevalues for the search result selected by the buyer computer systems thatare to be kept in confidence from seller computer systems other than theseller computer system based on the selected search result.
 20. Thecomputer-implemented method of claim 11, wherein the selectioninformation reflects at least one of: a position of the selected searchresult within the two or more search results presented to the buyercomputer systems; and one or more reasons for the position, relative tothe search result selected by the buyer computer systems, of a searchresult for the particular seller computer system.